Escape: The Adventures of Young Scorpius
by Scorpius
Summary: Ever wonder what adventures Scorpius had after escaping the Scarrans as a boy? Scorpius POV fanfic about his subsequent adventures as a youth.
1. Escape Chapter One: Yleth Khar

**ESCAPE  
**Chapter One  
**Yleth Khar  
  
This is a work in progress, beta readers welcome.  
Contact ||Scorpius|| with comments.  
**  


**The escape pod that Saath* had 'liberated' was not a very sophisticated craft, but it did have enough instrumentation to allow stellar navigation. The small ship had a limited amount of fuel, and he would have to be careful how he used it. Using stolen dataspools of starcharts, he quickly calculated the most efficient trajectory to the world he had chosen as his 'hideout': Yleth Khar, a backwater merchant planet known for it's 'degraded' society which tolerated many races. He had learned that its governance was divided among rival clans who turned their heads, for a fee, from criminal activities. The planet even had a cold climate, with a slightly lesser gravitational field than he was used to on the Scarran ship. Both of these factors would make it easier on his system. It seemed a perfect first destination to the escapee.   
  
He had spent the first twelve years of his life in near total isolation on a Scarran ship. The only other living being he had ever seen in the flesh was his 'caretaker', Tauza. Though she was the only family he has ever known, he reached a point where he could no longer bear the torment of being in her power. Many times, he had wondered if he would die from the 'medical procedures' she inflicted on him, or succumb to the terrible heat with which she tormented his hybrid body. As time passsed, he realised he had a sense that she did not: he could see the electro magnetic field her body produced. Eventually he had come to understand that she was lying to him, by observing changes in that energy signature. That helped him make the decision to flee into the unknown universe outside his prison.  
  
As frightening as this new, uncontrolled cosmos was for him, his soul longed for the freedom he could know on Yleth Khar. In his studies he had seen dataspools of many other sentient species, invariably as victims of Scarran conquest. He speculated that his appearance would not seem so shocking among all the diverse races that populated the commerce planet. He hoped he would go unnoticed among them.  
  
After setting the ships controls, the escapee took stock of his provisions:  
eight sealed containers of food cubes, one hundred measures of water, a medical kit, a small weight of gold, survival gear such as a temporary shelter, clothing, solar batteries, two fully equipped packs, a generator, two space suits, a fairly diverse collection of replacement micro circuitry, a powerful portable coms unit, and -- to his relief -- two charged pulse pistols and one rifle. If nothing else, he could sell some of the supplies and the generator for food and lodging. He also planned to sell the ship itself, to a suitably unquestioning buyer.   
  
He was exhausted by the stress of his escape, but felt refreshed to be in a cool environment at last. Saath turned the ship's heating units off for short periods of time, and the temperature in the cabin dropped to a level that felt comfortable to him. The chronic distress of being overheated was alleviated by the cold, and he realised his body was in less pain than he could ever remember.   
  
Returning to the controls, Saath scanned space for pursuing ships. He detected none; still, he was concerned with recapture. He knew the Scarrans all too well. Without cloaking technology, the escape pod would be easy to trace, even though the first thing he had done was disable the tracking beacon. He compromised his fuel consumption in order to fly an indirect path to Yleth Khar, skirting an emission nebula, hoping the ship's energy traces would be obscured by the ionisation. The escape pod was armed only with a small pulse cannon. Saath could not hope to defend himself against even one fighter. There was not much else he could do, so he settled down for the three day journey. He had many preparations to make.   
  
After a few arns of work, Saath fell into a heavy sleep, his first as a free being. As the little pod hurtled through space towards its goal, he dreamed of stepping from its hatchway onto the soil of a planet with cloudless blue skies.   
  


* * *

  
Yleth Khar loomed in the view port, a glowing gem of blue and white. The boy was awed by its beauty, and let his eyes drink in the view for a few microts. Saath's enjoyment was short lived. He had to focus on the controls. After all, he had never before entered planetary orbit in an escape pod. Aided by his excellent memory of training manuals, and the pod's automated systems, he managed it without much difficulty. Soon he was asking planetary flight operations for permission to land. The pod's sensors showed he was being scanned. The coms flashed, receiving an ident frequency to which the the ship's beacon must be set. He was contacted by the Controller, who assigned him a landing zone. Within an arn, the young escapee was flying the pod, not without some trepidation, into busy airspace over the planet's main commerce hub, Rab Lupal.  
  
Below, he could see the clustered circular 'hive' buildings of the native population of Kharinites. Dotted here and there among them were a large variety of off world constructs. He noted both Peacekeeper and Scarran style buildings there and was determined to avoid both. Either race had ample reason to find him of interest. With a sense of relief, he relinquished the pod's control to the air traffic Controller. The view was beginning to make him dizzy.   
  
While the small ship circled, waiting it's turn to land, Saath moved to the lockers, and found a concealing hooded robe. It would not do to allow his face to be seen. He had already ripped one robe into long strips, which he now wound about his face and head until only his grey eyes showed. He hoped no one would question his garb, or the fact that he was in possession of an escape pod.  
  
The craft landed smoothly in one of many walled landing zones. A rag tag group of security personnel approached the ship. They were conspicuously armed. The escapee slipped a pulse pistol, cloaked from detection by a cunning micro forcefield generator he had fashioned while in transit, into the loose sleeve of his robe, and keyed open the pod's door. He had secreted the other weapons in a similar manner on the ship. A big Luxan approached and presented him with a data pad.  
  
"Welcome to Yleth Khar. You owe flight operations seven hundred fifty credits," the Luxan said, with a toothy grin.  
  
"Of course," the boy said, as if used to dealing with underlings, "But I prefer to deal directly with your superior. Take me to that person immediately".  
  
The guard looked at his comrades questioningly, then turned back.  
  
"Certainly, if that is your wish, your eminence," he snidely said. The other two guards snickered as with a grand flourish the Luxan stepped aside and gestured to the youth to disembark.  
  
Remaining calm and silent, Saath keyed the lock on his ship, accepted a dataspool that contained its bay number, and escorted by the guards, crossed the landing area to a low building of pink sandstone.   
  
He tried to look blase, but this was his first planetfall, and he could not keep his eyes off the sky. It was blue, as in his dream. The air was laden with exotic scents of spices and burning resins, blended with other less savoury aromas. It was almost a sensory overload, but he reminded himself his life depended on how he dealt with the next few microts. Though his head was spinning with vertigo, he forced himself to focus his thoughts. He had, for months beforehand, devised a plan that just might allow him to keep his liberated possessions, as well as his freedom.  
  
Before escaping his Scarran captors, he had searched their database for information of a sensitive nature. Though he was certain these activities endangered his life, he had decided it was worth the risk. Every time Tauza left him alone, he was at the computer terminal, searching for information that might be of value to him once he escaped. Saath had been educated to be a Scarran warrior. Part of that training involved evasion and survival techniques. The Scarrans were nothing if not psychologically saavy. Tauza taught him how Scarrans dealt with 'underling' races; how to gain the upper hand through an attitude of superiority and confidence, and how to use the enemy's fears against them. He studied subjects as diverse as covert operations ,military strategy, alien psychology, and how to make weapons from commonly found tech. During his own secret forays through the computer system for data, he studied piloting manuals, schematic diagrams of Scarran ships, shipping lanes in the sector, commerce planets, and interspecies trade conventions. He had nothing else to give his life meaning, between sessions of torture and indoctrination. Saath was a precocious child, and once he had decided to attempt escape, all his formidable mental energies were channelled into that sole purpose. Now he reaped the reward of his courage and hard work: he was free.  
  
During his 'escape studies', he had found and memorised what he thought would be very valuable information to an 'entrepreneur' of the kind commonly found on Yleth Khar. He trusted the personage to whom he was being led had enough avarice in his nature to want to know planned movements of Scarran goods shipments to remote colony planets in the sector. A clever and unscrupulous man would know what to do with such data.  
  
Saath was ushered into a room of polished grey stone. Some wealth, and lack of taste, was indicated by the rich but garish furnishings. Occupied by a short six-armed insectiform being, an ornately carved throne-chair towered behind a desk of black wood. Brra'akk was a greedy fellow used to 'making the best' of all travellers who his paid Controllers sent to his compound. His was the Controller Prime of Clan Talrek. The young escapee was lucky: Brra'akk accepted his offer of information in exchange for a secure bay for his small craft and assurances that he would be allowed to leave at will. The insectoid alien tried the initial security codes given him, and found them valid.   
  
"Very interesting, " he hissed. "Your information...useful to us, maybe."   
  
"How can I know you will not have me killed and seize my ship?" Saath coolly asked.  
  
"Have ship already," said Brra'akk. His mouth parts widened in a mockery of a humanoid grin. "Listen alien," Brra'akk chirped, "Your data have...some value, so I will give you this," he shoved a pass chip across the gleaming table top, "Wear it, be allowed passage through all sectors controlled by Talrek." He nodded towards a guard.  
  
Saath could only guess, but the insect's energy signature had not changed. It seemed likely Brra'akk was not lying.   
  
The tall Luxan escort stepped forward and before he could resist, implanted something in his arm with a small device.  
  
"What is this?!" Saath growled.   
  
"A tracking device," Brra'akk responded. "Will allow us to locate you in... unfortunate eventuality your information proves false."  
  
"It is not, " the youth returned.  
  
"You had best hope so," Brra'akk replied, his mouth parts clacking.  
  
He curiously eyed the turbaned and masked youth. "I have to wonder why an alien of species I have never seen is in possession of Scarran escape pod..."  
he scratched his chelae, and continued, "Perhaps yourself would be of value to others?"   
  
"Or perhaps there are those who would be interested to know you are eager to exploit vital information of theirs when it falls into your hands, " he calmly replied. Leaning forward, Saath keenly looked into the face of the Controller. "And who will they believe: a pirate or their own agent? You have seen enough to know a fortune is yours if you have patience and deal fairly with me. You...understand that a man needs to...make a living". The boy's voice was as cold as his grey eyes. Hesitating dramatically, he lowered his head slightly and stared straight into the Controller's saucer-like eyes. "And, oh...you'll find there is one key bit of data I have not given you. When you determine the value of my other information, remove this tracking chip, and release my ship to me, I will give you the final key."  
  
Brra'akk laughed. "All right, alien. But what's to keep me from simply taking your ship, or your life now?"   
  
The boy smiled slightly behind his cloth mask. "My ship contains a self-destruct device that if tampered with would take out this entire complex. Ah...that, and the pulse pistol I have aimed at your thorax." Saath moved his hand up slightly, though what it held was still concealed inside the long sleeve of his robe.  
  
The insectoid's chelae rattled. His energy signature changed radically, flaring bright red. Saath realised he was not angry, but amused.  
  
"Hidden-face Alien is not too stupid," more rattling, "A pleasure...doing business. My species appreciates...bold trader." He looked the youth up and down, sizing him up.  
  
"But you want something more of Brra'akk," he stated.  
  
"Yes. I want an interstellar fighter and 500,000 credits in exchange for the full information".  
  
The Talrek made a sound that was almost a sigh. "You ask much, alien."  
  
"You know my offer is a bargain," the boy said, his voice steady.  
  
"A fighter and 250,000 credits. Is best offer." Brra'akk chirped.  
  
He stood and moved, clacking and clattering, to a wall safe. From it he took a small datapad, and placed it on the table. "Here money is. Take. I buy your ship."  
  
"500,000," said the boy, "And I keep my ship until I take delivery of the fighter." Then he let the Talrek see his pulse pistol.  
  
"All right alien!" Brra'akk's mouth parts clattered with laughter. He keyed the datapad and gave it to the boy. "Done. It will take a few days to secure your ship. Trust that we shall be keeping an eye on you...what is name?"  
  
He hadn't thought of that. Saath said the first name that came to mind "Krelth", he said. It meant 'Hidden' in his former captor's tongue. "I will also need a city map and the location of the nearest verification facility for the funds. You should know that I can trigger my ship's self destruct device...from a distance, " he stated.  
  
The insectoid's unreadable bulbous eyes regarded him, but the boy was looking at his energy signature. Yes, he thought there was a little fear there. Good.   
  
"Very well, Krelth Alien," the insectoid hissed. "Advise you stay within Talrek zone. Is..._dangerous_ place." His mouth parts again moved in a hideous smile.  
  


* * *

  
Rather pleased with himself, Saath stepped out into a side street of Rab Lupal. A cacophony of input assaulted his senses. The stimuli of so many alien sounds, sights, and smells made him shake his head in confusion. The infinite blue of the sky was most disorienting of all. Saath had never lived without --as he thought now with some wonder--the comfort of a solid metal ceiling over his head. He tried to sort out the overwhelming confusion of input by focusing on his immediate surroundings.   
  
The small city byway onto which he had emerged was paved with flat stones of pink granite. Clustered tightly together, buildings of many styles lined it, stretching off in a riot of colour in either direction. Saath recognised some to be shops, their brightly coloured banners snapping in the cold breeze. Other buildings seemed to have no readily identifiable purpose. Most were constructed of stone, but others of brightly painted fibreplastics. Aliens of many species moved along the byway, hurrying or dawdling about their mysterious errands. Saath's heart was racing with excitement. In spite of his growing confusion, knew that he had waited his entire life to emerge into this chaotic universe of life and colour.  
  
Saath started as a bulky, smelly alien emerged from an dark archway, and stumbled into him. The being grunted, and staggered off. Saath peered in through the dark entrance way, and saw what appeared to be a bar. A wide variety of rough looking aliens sat drinking on long benches and around small tables. Reminded of his thirst, Saath removed a water flask from it's place on his pack, and drank deeply. He was glad he'd retrieved some of his gear. Having emergency supplies -- and a couple of pulse pistols -- went far to allay his fears. Saath moved off down the street, consulting the map the Controller had given him.   
  
He would first have to find a funds verification terminal. There he could check to see if he had come out as well in his bargaining as he hoped. How he had managed to hold himself together during the meeting with Controller, he didn't know. The reaction of the stress of that meeting made his muscles tremble. He realised that he was not in the physical condition to do much walking. Getting a taxi wouldn't be a bad idea, he thought. Slowly he continued on, his mind reeling from the wonder of it all.   
  
The pink stone byway led him to a huge open-air agora. Saath consulted his map. Rab Lupal had a circular layout. The city was divided into twelve pie-wedge shaped sectors, each controlled by a different clan. He was at the apex of the Talrek sector, and before him was the central 'freezone', a marketplace where a truce between all factions was strictly enforced. Death was the penalty for violating the peace in the agora.   
  
Saath was staggered by the boiling activity of the vast marketplace. There were thousands of beings conducting business there, with thousands more browsing and haggling over wares. Overwhelmed, he went back down the street to stand in a narrow alley between two buildings. Saath knew he could not bear to enter that place. Not only were his physical senses assaulted by the intensity of input, his mental ones were also. For the first time, Saath realised that he might have to guard his thoughts as well as his appearance from others. There were psychic beings about. He wondered if it was the native Kharinite population. None of the Scarran dataspools he had read had mentioned it, but then perhaps his former captors considered the natives of Yleth Khar unworthy of classification as telepaths. A gibberish of random bits of thought and emotion was like a dull buzzing in his head. For a few microts, he leaned against the stone wall and held his head in his hands, trying to block out the background roar of thoughts. After a few microts, he managed to quiet most of the noise. He felt the strain of the effort. If he were much more tired than he was now, he would not be able to do it.  
  
This was something on which he had not planned. Was he more psychic than he had thought? He knew he could see energy signatures, but this was something else. He could see flashes of images, smells, even sensations from some of the aliens here. What was he to do? Panic began to rise in him. Will I go mad? Saath realised that he had to get out of the city altogether. He had survival gear. Perhaps it would be best to hide in the surrounding countryside, away from the throng and the pressure of their thoughts. He was also in a great deal of pain. The exertion and stress of the last arn had made him overheat. Even in the kind cold of Rab Lupal, his blood was beginning to burn. Saath decided he needed a ride.  
  
Stepping back out into the pink byway, Saath asked the first being to pass him where he might find a taxi. The tall grey-skinned woman, who looked Sebacean except for her colouring, pointed to a building across the way. "That interface, you can call from," she rasped. Not thinking to thank her, Saath merely turned away and crossed the street. Embedded in the facade of the structure was a com panel. By trial and error, Saath got a connection.   
  
"Lupal ninth sector Transport," said the Kharinite operator when he appeared on the screen. "I need a taxi," the escapee responded.   
  
"Have you funds?" the operator seemed dubious.  
  
Saath didn't look exactly well-heeled in his mask of rags. "Yes, but I need verification. Do you provide that service?"  
  
"Yes. Remain where you are, taxi will come in seven microts." the operator severed the connection.  
  
Saath sat down on a bench beside the com panel and watched the passersby. As promised, a hovertaxi glided down from above in a few microts. It was a common looking vehicle, stubby and marked with numbers and what appeared to be company logos.  
  
The cabby stuck his head out the window. "You call a cab, mister?"  
  
"Yes. Saath took off his pack and climbed in. "I need funds verification".  
  
"Give me your chip," the cabby said, turning half around. Saath realised with a start, that he was the first Sebacean he had ever seen in the flesh. With an accompanying flash of pain, he wondered if the man was a rapist, like his father. Saath handed him the Talrek credit chip.   
  
"Talrek..." the cabby grumbled, as he slid it into a dataport. When he saw the readout, his energy signature flared. "You have 500,000. Where to, mister?" His voice sounded more friendly.  
  
"Outside the city, anywhere away from people," Saath said, in his most commanding voice.  
  
The cabby grinned "Loner, eh?"  
  
Saath did not answer.   
  
The cabby lost his smile, and gave his strange passenger a cautionary look. "Outside city limits is a freezone, but it is not a trucezone. You still want to go?"  
  
"Yes. Take me to a secluded place." Saath was no longer thinking clearly. The pressure in his mind slowly was eroding his strength. He panted a little, as his temperature rose from the stress.  
  
"It's your money," the cabby said, and the airtaxi rose straight up until it cleared the surrounding buildings.   
  
Saath looked down to see the spider web of Rab Lupal's streets receding away below him. He felt vertigo, and closed his eyes. Five microts later, the cabby spoke, startling him.  
  
"Is this suitable?" the wiry Sebacean asked.  
  
Saath leaned out the window and looked down. There was a small unpaved track winding among clusters of red boulders. Nothing was moving on the ground. In all directions, boulders jutted up from vivid green turf. Interspersed among them were trees and other vegetation. A small stream crossed the dirt track just below them.   
In the distance, the spires of Rab Lupal glinted against the bright blue sky. Saath thought it a beautiful setting.  
  
"Yes, this will be satisfactory. If I want you to come pick me up, will you do so?" he asked.  
  
"Sure, mister," the Sebacean said. "Here's my comcard. You have a personal comport? "  
  
"No, I do not."  
  
"You'll need one. I will sell you one for twenty-five credits."  
  
"All right"  
  
The cabby docked the chip. "That will be seventy-seven credits, total".  
  
Not knowing what was a fair bargain or not, Saath nodded. The cabby handed him back his chip.  
  
Microts later, Saath looked up into the endless blue sky to watch the taxi speeding away towards the city. The peace of the landscape embraced him. The boulders and trees were calm, and much more reassuring than Rab Lupal had been. Perhaps being outside was not so bad after all. Saath pulled his mapscroll open and consulted its thin flexible data screen. It showed him to be in a district called Srokiln, only five units west of the town. He thought he could walk there if necessary.   
  
It was late in the day. Saath decided it might be best to make his camp away from the track. Visions of bandits filled his imagination. He didn't want to be a victim of robbers. His feet sank into the springy vegetation as he made his way among the boulders to the right of the trail. How strange, he thought, to feel the floor give way beneath one's feet. A spicy scent came from the plants his boots crushed. He found it soothing. Already, he felt the near panic he had experienced in the city beginning to fade, but still, it was very strange to be in such an unenclosed space.  
  
Moving among the stones, Saath found a narrow passageway between the steep sides of two huge boulders. It wound off in a northerly direction for some distance. It was almost like a ship's corridor. Saath smiled to himself. This was about as far from a spaceship as it was possible to get. He did not realise that he natually felt more at ease surrounded by walls. For a few microts, his past was forgotten in the adventure of being alone on a planet, in control of his destiny at last.   
  
In a few microts, he emerged from the rock cleft into a bowl-shaped dell. The circular hollow was surrounded by jumbled red rocks, which cast long shadows eastward across the depression. At the northern end of the dell, opposite him, a huge tree grew. It's thick trunk was deep red in colour, and covered with shaggy bark. Branches laden with glossy green leaves reached high into the blue sky. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Saath was pleased. He would rest under it for a while. Slowly he crossed the open area, careful of his step. The ubiquitous green moss was so thick there, his boots sank down several denches into it.  
  
Saath sat down under the enormous red tree. Setting his pack to one side, he took out water and drank deeply. A cold breeze soon had cooled him to a state of near painlessness. He lay down on his back under the tree, his gloved hands running through the springy carpet of moss. Looking up, he gasped. Through the shimmering leaves of the tree, westering sunlight rippled. Above him, bright highlights among the dark ceiling of green foliage, and fragments of sunlit blue sky moved like unfixed overhead lights. He caught his breath at the beauty of it. My first tree, he thought, and smiled. It felt good to have a living thing sheltering him.  
  
As he relaxed, Saath realised how very tired he was. Even without the pressure of the proximity of alien thoughts, he felt completely exhausted. He had made planetfall, and survived, and now he was here in this completely alien place. A strange emotion filled him. He wondered if this was how freedom felt. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the coolness of the air, and the softness of the moss beneath him. The scent of the bruised moss seemed to calm his mind.  
  


* * *

  
Saath was awakened by alien thoughts. It was almost pitch black out. Cloud cover had moved in after nightfall, and only a few of the brightest stars twinkled through the leaves of the tree under which he lay. His mind was as sluggish as if he had been sedated. He tried to sit up, and realised he had gotten too cold to move. That was novel. The ship-dweller had not taken the temperature drop after sundown into account. Saath didn't have time to berate himself. He heard more elusive thought-gibberish, and now, emotions. Excitement. Cold dread pumped through his veins. The cabby! He had returned to rob him, and he had an alien with him. The Sebacean had known he would be nearby. Saath struggled to sit up, and finally managed. Panic motivated him and helped heat his blood.   
  
Moving as fast as he could in his chilled state, he reached for his pack and took out the two pulse pistols. He had no experience shooting weapons, though he had thoroughly studied their tech. Saath tried to stand, but could not. His body was still too cold. With great effort, he crawled around to the north side of the trunk to put the tree between him and the dell.  
  
A microt later, the Sebacean cabby and a Kharinite male stealthily emerged from the same cleft in the boulders Saath had used to reach the dell. With his ability to see energy signatures, the darkness could not hide the men from his sight. The glow of their electromagnetic aura made them easy to distinguish at the southern rim of the dell. They whispered together. Saath sensed that they indeed were looking for him. Keeping absolutely still, he hoped they would miss him in the dark.  
  
They neared him. The Sebacean hissed as he stumbled over a rock. Saath's heart raced. The cabby, he thought, had circled to the west, the unknown Kharinite, whose thoughts had alerted him, to the east. How could he avoid both? He could not escape. Perhaps he would be killed. Then he realised they were tracking him with the cabby's comcard. What a fool I am! he berated himself. He didn't take the time to remove the comcard from his new comport. Saath threw the unit as far away as he could. It soundlessly landed in the soft moss on the west side of the dell, only fifty paces from the tree.  
  
The cabby was close enough now that he could hear him whisper into his coms. "He's on your nine. Cut across to me". The Kharinite had the tree between himself and the cabby. Saath knew he would come very close to his hiding place if he cut directly across the dell. He flattened himself in the moss, his pistols at the ready, and tried to control his shivering.   
  
The Kharinite crossed only paces from the south side of the tree. Saath held his breath. The men whispered together, then moved forward. When the cabby finally located his comcard, Saath heard him grunt in disgust.   
  
"He's dropped it," he said in a hushed tone. "What an idiot. Now where can he be?"  
  
"We may have to wait till dawn," the Kharinite answered. "Can't see much in the dark. We should leave. He may be armed." The man's voice sounded nervous.  
  
"That newbie?," the Sebacean chuckled. "I think he's a runaway. Imgine paying cabfare with a 500,000 credit chip! He's not good enough to get the drop on us, and my cab's sensors detected no weapons on him."  
  
Just then, to Saath's horror, the cold made his muscles spasm. His leg jerked, snapping a twig on which he'd been lying.  
  
The two robbers heard it. "There, he's behind the tree!" the Sebacean hissed. Both men leapt behind a low boulder, and pointed their weapons at the tree.  
  
Saath crawled backwards, scrambling to put the tree between himself and the men. When they heard his movements, the robbers opened fire. Energy bolts sizzled in the moss, and burned into the tree's bark. Before he reached full cover, an energy bolt seared Saath's shoulder. He grunted, but didn't cry out.**

**"I hit him!" the Kharinite said, and stood up. His energy signature made him a clear target. Saath pressed the trigger and sprayed a horizontal trail of pulse fire across the top of the boulder. With a loud cry, the Kharinite fell.  
  
"Frell!" the Sebacean cried. "I'll kill you for that, offworlder!" he shouted.  
  
Saath was bleeding, and his right arm was beginning to feel numb. He could no longer grip the pistol properly, and it almost fell from his fingers. He lay back against the tree's trunk. The Sebacean kept him pinned down with steady fire.   
  
The energy weapon had torn and penetrated his flesh, but had not cauterised it. I may die here, Saath thought. He thought he might bleed to death before the cabby gave him another clear shot. Staying under cover, Saath dug in his pack for the med kit. He found the pressure bandage and held it over his wound for a few microts, until the microfibres took hold of his skin. He could feel them working into the wound, stanching the flow of blood, and beginning the process of knitting it. The sensation was like having the wound probed with hundreds of needles, but Saath ignored it. With a feeling of self contempt, he thought that if he had tough skin like a full Scarran, he wouldn't have needed the bandage at all.  
  
For half an arn, the Sebacean continued to pin him down with intermittent fire to either side of the tree. Then, to Saath's surprise, the bolts suddenly stopped. He dared not expose himself to look. Listening with all his senses, the escapee tried to determine if his assailant was moving.   
  
He could hear nothing, but then, out of the silence, he sensed something. At first he couldn't tell what it was, then, as clear as a spoken voice, he heard the thought "It's over. You can come out."  
  
Saath gasped. He'd never heard a thought so clearly before. This was not like the random and indistinct thought fragments that had bombarded him in Rab Lupal. This was focused, and with it there was a sense of deeper meaning. He felt this being meant him no harm. "Who are you?" he shouted.   
  
"A friend," came the calm reply. It was a woman's voice. "I am of the Temple. I have...dispatched your assailant."  
  
"You are a Priestess?" Saath called. He knew that on this planet of warring gang factions, the Priests and Priestesses of the Goddess were noncombatants.  
  
"Yes. And a healer. Come forth, and I will take you to sanctuary. You are under the protection of the Goddess now. Your wounds need tending," she said.  
  
Saath peeked out from behind the kind tree. He saw a glowing ovoid of white-blue light about a Kharinite woman. Taller and thinner than most Sebaceans, she otherwise looked very like one. The woman had a small head with a flat, round face, smooth skin, and clawless hands. She was dressed in black, but it did nothing to disguise her energy signature. She had moved out into the open space of the dell, away from cover. Saath could have killed her easily. Still, he was unsure.  
  
"Put down your weapons first," he called.   
  
She chuckled. "I have none, she said. "Be at peace. I will not harm you."   
  
Saath saw no change in her energy signature. If she held true to patterns he had learned observing Tauza's signature, she was telling the truth. "How did you stop the Sebacean then?" Saath tried to sound confident in his position of ascendency.  
  
"I used a drugged dart on him," she answered meekly. "He is unconscious."  
  
That explained the silence of her attack. If she was a Priestess, he was in luck. He decided it best to take a chance. He might not survive his wounds otherwise. "Approach me," he said.   
  
The woman moved slowly towards him, her hands held out to her sides in plain view. When she was under the tree, Saath motioned her closer. "Kneel beside me," he ordered in his best Scarran voice of command. Smiling slightly, she did, and allowed him to pat her down for weapons. His check was perfunctory; his weakened right hand held the pulse pistol.  
  
"Do I meet with your approval now," she asked in an ironic tone, when he was finished.  
  
Saath sensed she meant him no harm. It was a unique feeling. "Yes," he said simply.  
  
"You are welcome," she said, and looked into his grey eyes. "Let me examine your wound."  
  
Lowering his weapon, Saath allowed her to attend him. Her aura was so bright, he squinted his eyes at her. It was a remarkable feeling to have her so near, and feel her energy field impinging on his own. He could not clearly sense her thoughts, any longer. Expecting the same rough treatment he had received from Tauza all his life, he steeled himself for pain. The Priestess touched his shoulder gently, not removing the bandage, or probing the wound. She held her hand a dench above the pressure patch and closed her eyes. Saath was shocked. His pain seemed lessen appreciably, not become worse. For the first time in his life, he was being touched with compassion.   
  
"I am called Ursul," the woman in black said. "What is your name?" her voice was musical and rather pleasing, Saath thought.  
  
"Krelth," he said. He was shaking. Would she be able to tell he was lying?  
  
"It is not too bad. I can repair it at the temple, " she said. "But I sense that you are cold."  
  
"Yes, I have become too cold," he said. "If I were warmer, I could walk," he said proudly, but not without some irony. Tauza had kept him debilitated with heat; this was the first time he had ever been debilitated by cold. "Do you have a flyer nearby?"   
  
"Yes. That is how I spotted the weapons fire." Ursul stood. "We should not stay here any longer. I will bring the flyer to you". The Priestess turned to leave.  
  
"Wait," Saath called. "The Kharinite. Is he dead?" he asked.  
  
"Quite." she responded, looking over her shoulder with a grin.   
  
Saath smiled. His first kill. It was a proud moment for a warrior. Even outnumbered and temporarily lame, he had managed to dispatch one of his opponents. Tauza would be proud, he thought. With a strange mixture of defiance and guilt, he realised that he would never see her again. He tried to tell himself that it shouldn't matter that she would never know he had proved himself as a warrior.   
  
Saath remembered his Sebacean enemy had his comport, with the man's own comcard inside. Perhaps it would be good to know the Sebacean's name. The first Sebacean he had ever met, and he attacked him. It would not be right to allow his defeated enemy to keep anything of his...and he should make sure that he knew the name of his defeated enemy.  
  
"The Sebacean you subdued has my comport. Retrieve it for me?" he asked.  
  
"I'll try." Ursul hurried off, and soon returned, bearing the device. "Here it is," she said, handing it to the masked boy. For a moment, she seemed to wait expectantly.**

**Saath said nothing, and did not look away from her face as he placed the comport in his pack. The Priestess turned away, and without another word, loped off to disappear into the boulder-cleft at the dell's southern edge.  
  
Saath leaned back against the tree. Reaction to the attack was beginning to set in as his adrenaline levels dropped. He was shivering violently as he put the pulse pistols back into his pack. Within a few microts, he saw the flyer loom up against the stars. It was small, and totally silent. The Priestess landed it in the middle of the dell, and climbed out. Again he noted the brightness of her. Saath thought that her aura put Tauza's much weaker energy signature to shame.  
  
Ursul bent down beside Saath. "I'll help you," she said, and suddenly put her arms around him.**

**Saath flinched from the unexpected touch, but allowed her to help him up. With difficulty she managed to half drag him to the flyer and get him inside. After the hatches were secured, the Priestess turned on the heating unit.**

**Soon Saath felt life returning to his numb legs. "Not too hot," he said, after a few microts. "This is sufficient".**

**The Priestess stabilised the cabin temperature, then they took off.   
  
Rising silently into the starry night, the flyer left the dell of the tree behind, and sped off to the North.**

  
**Continued on Page 2--link below right.  
**

**Note:  
*Saath is Scorpius' first chosen name. It means 'truth'.  
  
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February 5, 2002  
Updated April 26, 2002  
  
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**


	2. Escape Chapter Two: The Temple of the Go...

**EsCAPE  
**Chapter Two  
**The Temple of the Goddess  
This is a work in progress, beta readers welcome.  
Contact ||Scorpius|| with comments.  
**  


**Saath was deep in thought as he watched the dark land of Yleth Khar speed by below. The sleepiness the cold had caused, burned away by adrenaline and heat, was returning. He was finding it difficult to marshal his thoughts. The wound in his shoulder ached, but it wasn't much of a pain. He'd known worse, far worse. Saath wondered towards what fate he was speeding with the stranger. He knew he had been foolish to allow himself to be deposited with no protection in the countryside. That the Priestess had dropped in on his little firefight was fortuitous, to say the least. Even so, the thought that even worse dangers might await him at the temple crossed his mind more than once.  
  
He had read about the temple, of course, when studying Yleth Khar's culture. It was a major planetary institution. All temples of the Goddess were inviolate truce zones. The priesthood provided medical services to all clan factions, in return for cyclical tribute. To harm or kill a Servant of the Goddess meant death to anyone foolish enough to try. Thought the thought of being at the mercy of the priests in their place of power was disturbing, Saath thought that with any luck, the temple would be a good hideout for him. Obviously, he needed some sort of protection on this planet. The 'outside' was a more unpredictable, and therefore dangerous, place than he could have imagined.   
  
The Priestess slowed the flyer as she approached their destination. Fighting dizziness, Saath looked down, and took in the alien scene. Above the dark land the temple of the Goddess loomed, a huge bastion of black stone. Defensively positioned, the imposing building, though simple elegance distinguished it's architecture, had the look of a fortress. High on it's rocky, narrow ridge, it dominated the landscape.  
  
Saath could see that four high conical hills, one at each quadrant of the compass, surrounded the temple. They were equidistant from it, about a half unit away. On each high mound there was a circular ceremonial area set off with low monoliths. At the centre of each ritual area, a large tree grew.  
  
Ursul flew in over the high outer walls of the temple complex and circled. Saath saw that the entire top of the high ridge was contained within the walls. Inside the outer defensive wrangle there was a flat landing area among an elaborate patchwork of stone buildings. The Priestess set the flyer down gently. As the stone walls rose about him, Saath felt a sense of comfort. All the open space outside was beginning to feel oppressive to him. At least here, he thought, he would be within walls. He never would have guessed how disconcerting being in the open would be.  
  
Saath started to climb out of the flyer, but Ursul stopped him.   
  
"Wait," she said, "You should not try to walk. I have called for a stretcher."  
  
"It is not necessary." Shame coloured his voice. "I can walk."  
  
"If you are to benefit from medical treatment, you must learn to follow your doctor's advice," she said with a smile.  
  
Saath looked at her, as if to protest, but thought better of it and stayed silent. Two Kharinite men in black emerged from a low structure and hurried over to them. Saath allowed them to help him onto a hover gurney. It was very strange indeed to him to be touched by them. They were only the third and fourth beings to ever touch him, in all his life. The Luxan who had implanted him with the tracking device had not actually put his hand on him. The tracking device! Saath glanced down at his right arm lying on the gurney. He wanted that removed. It gave his potential enemies an advantage. Perhaps the doctors here could render that service.  
  
The Kharinites guided the gurney to a nearby entranceway. Beside the flyer, Ursul had been speaking with a female of a species Saath did not recognise, but now she trotted over to walk beside him as they entered the building of dark basaltic stone. As soon as his stretcher was guided inside, Saath felt a sense of relief. The night sky, with it's moving grey clouds, had been making him feel more uneasy by the microt.   
  
"It is all right, Saath," Ursul said, and put her hand on his left shoulder. He flinched again. It was a conditioned response, but he still felt shame. The priestess removed her hand, and glanced at him. He kept his eyes on the backs of the orderlies to avoid hers, but he could not help but indulge his curiosity. He feigned indifference, but he was carefully observing everything.  
  
They were in a corridor of slate-coloured stone, with a slightly rough texture. Oval lighting units were set in the walls every few paces. Their greenish illumination, though harshly bright to Saath's eyes, was softened by frosted glass lenses. Otherwise, the hallway was without ornament except for two wide bands of relief-carved calligraphy that ran along both walls for the entire length of the corridor, midway between the floor and the arched ceiling. They came to metal doorway on which a complex symbol was painted in red. The door slid open as they neared it.   
  
Saath immediately knew where he was. Polished surfaces, gleaming metal, machines that looked like pumps and diagnostic devices: he recognised them all, though they were alien in form. He sighed. How ironic, he thought, to be right back where he started from. He was quite familiar with 'medical procedures', having been subjected to them all his life. The familiar chill of resignation deadened his mind. He automatically began to go into the mental place to which his consciousness retreated during his tortures.   
  
The Priestess told the orderlies to place the hover gurney beside an exam table, and they moved Saath onto it, after helping him out of his hooded robe. With a slight bow to the Priestess, they left the room. A tall blue-skinned Delvian woman wearing a gown of shiny red fabric entered the room. A smaller, white-skinned man with slits for nostrils and two rows of spikes running front to back along his hairless skull, accompanied her. They both quickly came to the exam table. Before touching Saath, the Delvian ran a small sensor device over the pressure bandage on his shoulder. She nodded to her assistant, and he pulled a heavy diagnostic unit on a swing arm away from the wall, to lock it in place over Saath's head. The Doctor activated the device, and a soft blue light bathed Saath's upper body. She consulted the complex display on the device's screen, then activated some other device, which made a low humming sound. Saath closed his eyes, expecting pain.  
  
Ursul stood beside him while the Delvian scanned him. "Don't worry Krelth," Ursul said in a gentle voice. "Our Order does not inflict pain, but eases it."  
  
He turned his bandaged face to her. Saath could see her energy signature fluxuate at the centre of her ribcage. Ursul broke eye contact, and looked up at the Doctor.**

**"This is Doctor Lahaan, and her assistant Medic, Kuroko." Both beings nodded and briefly met Saath's eyes while continuing to work.  
  
"Are there any other injuries?" asked the Doctor.  
  
"No," Saath said. He pointed to the site of Brra'kk's implant. "There is a tracking device here. Can you remove it?"  
  
The Doctor nodded. "Kuroko, would you scan that for me?" She was studying a biosigns display above Saath's head.  
  
Kuroko took a small scanner and passed it over the implant. "Talrek," he said. "It is removable."   
  
"All right," the Delvian said, "Remove it but do not deactivate."   
  
"No, deactivate it," Saath protested.  
  
"It is best left active, because if the Talrek know you are in our keeping...they will be assured you are not trying to elude them, nor do they dare attack you here," said Ursul.  
  
Saath nodded. He felt too tired to think it out thoroughly right now. It seemed to made sense.  
  
Kuroko pulled up Saath's sleeve. The boy's pale skin was slightly mottled with purple and yellow. Scars from many injections traced his veins. Kuroko took a tubular device and pressed it to the implant site. When he removed it, a tiny red sphere gleamed at it's tip. It was immediately deposited and sealed into a small sample container.   
  
Saath had felt nothing.  
  
"What is your name, child?" the Delvian asked.  
  
"This is Krelth," Ursul told her before he could answer. "He was wounded by bandits in the Oslith Rocks," she said. "Pulse pistol, Garan mark seven model."  
  
Was it his imagination, or did the two females exchange thoughts? He had not heard the Priestess' thoughts since that first, extremely clear perception in the dell of the tree, but now, Saath thought he sensed an indistinguishable whisper of psi energy.  
  
"Yes," the Delvian said, "He is fortunate. Had it been mark eight he might not be with us..." She sprayed the pressure bandage with a liquid, and it began to let go of the wound. Carefully she peeled up the pad until it was fully removed. Saath was surprised that it did not hurt at all. "I am going to cut and remove your tunic from your shoulder, she said. "All right?" Saath nodded. He was trying to think of a lie to tell them about his species, but realised that they had probably already scanned his DNA, or would soon do so. He struggled to hide the fear this thought evoked.   
  
Carefully, the Doctor pulled aside the blood soaked, beige coloured cloth. Saath watched Ursul's energy signature flare brightly as the Delvian pulled aside his coarse garment. Saath suspected that she was repulsed by the sight of his skin. He knew his body was unlike any other she had seen.   
  
Addressing Kuroko, who held what Saath assumed to be a small recording device, the Delvian carefully examined his injury. "The wound is three denches wide, and almost two denches deep. The pulse shot has not damaged anything vital," she said.  
"The shoulder and neck exhibit a great deal of old scarring."   
  
The Doctor met Saath's eyes. He noted her energy signature was fluxuating similarly to Ursul's. Supressing his emotions, he assumed that they both were disgusted with his appearance. He looked at the ceiling, wishing the Doctor would finish soon.  
  
While the Doctor sprayed the wound with another liquid, Kuroko took a small cellular regenerator, and ran it back and forth over the wound.   
  
Saath felt a tingling, but still no pain. In fact, the pain of the wound had faded to a dull ache. Had they given him pain killers because they thought him too weak to bear his pain? These were alien beings indeed. His thoughts turned to the future. By allowing them to heal his wound, he may have compromised his anonymity. He began to try to fabricate a story to mislead them. With a chill, he realised that explanations for his existence were very limited.  
  
Taking another self-adhering healing compress, the Doctor gently covered the site. "There," she said. "I have sterilised and knitted the wound. It should not bother you further. But I will need you to disrobe so that I can finish my examination," she said.  
  
"You have repaired me," Saath said firmly. "There is no need for more."  
  
"If you are to be a patient here, there are certain baseline tests that must be run before I can release you," the Delvian replied. "None of them are painful..."  
  
"That doesn't matter!" Saath snarled, shamed at the suggestion he could not bear pain. Then he caught himself. He realised he did not want them to know the shame and fear that inspired his protest. He resigned himself to discovery. It was futile to hide his nature from them. Would he be under their protection as a patient, or would they notify his captors because he was an offworlder? He was so tired that his thoughts were becoming less cohesive by the microt, but it seemed that none of them had lied to him. He said nothing, and with a nod, permitted them to proceed.  
  
The Doctor had Saath sit up, then began unwrapping his mask of cloth strips. Slowly his visage was revealed. Though they said nothing, he could see that his attendants were taken aback by his appearance.   
  
Saath was only thirteen years old, but his face was more deeply lined than an old man's. He was of no identifiable race. Saath's chin was twisted, his face assymetrical, and his cheeks hollow beneath craggy, uneven cheekbones. His skull seemed distorted, and was covered with patches of long, thin blonde hair.   
  
Ursul kept her face impassive, but Saath could see her emotional disturbance. His body, revealed as they helped him out of his tunic, was marked with countless scars, some of which were badly healed. He had had many operations. Saath thought that the sight of his deformities must deeply disgust them.   
  
Saath saw many changes in Ursul's energy signature. She was looking keenly at him. He wondered what she was thinking. Just then, a whisper of psi energy reached him, as if by merely willing it, he could hear her thoughts. He could tell that she was shocked and angry, but that she was forcing herself to hide her reaction. She was thinking that he had been systematically tortured. The priestess wanted to know by whom. Suddenly, she started, and looked into his eyes.  
  
So, Saath thought, she can tell I can sense her thoughts. He was amazed by hers. Why she cared was beyond him.  
  
"There," she said gently, as his tattered tunic came off.   
  
When she spoke, Saath lost her thoughts.   
  
Ursul and Kuroko helped him stand. His legs were still stiff and slow to respond. Saath found the behaviour of the aliens a wonderment. No one had ever been so...he searched for a word to describe it. It was not exactly weakness, it was something for which he had no reference. They were attentive to him. They did not cause pain when they easily could do so, even when they had to take care not to hurt him.   
  
Burning with the shame of his appearance, which he knew was very weak and ugly, Saath closed his eyes and silently endured their curiosity. Had Tauza not told him every day how hideous he was? Why did he allow their reaction to bother him? They must be unwilling to touch me, that is why they proceed so carefully, he thought. If he repulsed them, perhaps they would let him go. That might be for the best.  
  
He suspected that Ursul was a telepath of great power. He was not assured by the prospect that she sensed most of his thoughts and emotions. Perhaps she had detected him reading hers. He would have to be careful here. If he were not so very tired, he thought he might be able to guard his thoughts from her. After all, he had learned to hide them from Tauza.  
  
Kuroko and Ursul helped Saath balance as he stepped out of his old trousers. Now they could see the whole of his ravaged body. He gritted his teeth and kept his face impassive. No need to reveal his mortification, he thought. They tried to steady him as they led him over to a sonic shower and sterilisation field. Shrugging off their hands with a soft snarl, he managed to limp there unassisted.**

**He dutifully stood inside the glass walls of the shower until the Doctor told him to come out. Kuroko handed him a black robe. Both of the women helped him don it, and fastened the ties along one side. It was the first new garment he had worn in a very long time, and the clean fabric felt good against his skin. He thought how soft the garment was, not scratchy like his old clothing. Weakness again. Were these aliens completely decadent?   
  
"Stand here, now, Krelth," the Doctor said. "And hold still."  
  
With difficulty, he stepped up on a platform between high sensor grids. Saath heard a small hum, and felt an unusual sensation. The wide panels rotated on tracks until they made a half circle around him. It was over in a microt.   
  
"There, all done," Kuroko said. He took Saath by the arm, and offered to help him down from the scanner's dias.   
  
Saath's grey eyes flashed in defiance. Kuroko took a quick step backwards. Stiffly, the boy managed to climb down by himself.   
  
As he walked between the two women back to the gurney, Saath stumbled and almost fell. He was exhausted.  
  
The Delvian Doctor said soothingly, "Lie down here. You will be taken to a room where you can get some rest."  
  
Saath climbed onto the floating stretcher, and lay down. The aliens were talking nearby, but their voices seemed distant and indistinct. He closed his eyes, and before the orderlies returned to move him, he had fallen asleep.  
  


* * *

  
A bright light shone through his eyelids. Saath was dreaming. His heart hammered as he saw Tauza standing over him. She had come to torture him with the heat-lamps again...  
  
His eyes flew open. The sight that met them was decidedly different than his former prison. The light that had awakened him came from a tall window oposite his bed, and was not artificial. For the first time, he had been awakened by the dawn.   
  
Remembering the previous night, he touched his shoulder. The small pain there had diminished to a faint throb. Saath looked about. He could scarcely believe he was on Yleth Kar, in the Temple of the Goddess. He was lying on a fabric pad of some kind that covered a raised slab of stone. How could one make himself strong, sleeping on such a soft bed? He wondered, but another thought nagged at him. His body did not ache nearly as much as usual after a night's sleep there.  
  
The room in which he found himself was small and clean. It was formed of the same slate-coloured stone as the rest of the Temple, but the walls had been painted light blue: the colour of Yleth Khar's sky. His bed was against the western wall. The eastern wall was pierced by the window. Saath noted that there were heavy metal shutters on either side of it. The bed seemed placed so that the sunrise would awaken the sleeper.  
  
Saath got out of bed and stood up. He felt better. The room temperature was wonderfully cool, and he could feel a chilly breeze on his face. He took a deep breath of the clean air. It was exhillarating.   
  
Beside the bed a small wooden table stood, on which were placed a lamp, and a bundle of black cloth. He unrolled the bundle on the bed, and discovered black trousers, a long-sleeved black tunic, and undergarments. He noted with a bit of disdain that these garments were made of even softer cloth than his robe. He took off the robe and put on the the new items. The fabric was like a caress against his skin. He tried to supress his delight at the sensation. When he was dressed, he donned his beautiful black robe again. There were soft black leather boots on a woven straw mat beside the bed, and he slipped them on too. He looked down at himself, and admired his new attire. All the pieces fit him well and were the finest , if most decadent, garments he had ever worn.   
  
Wearing black pleased him. It was the colour of a warrior, along with red. Now that he had proven himself in combat, and thereby had come of age, it would be his right to wear black clothing or harness, and to wear the _yalkrax_, a narrow headband of black, with a single red kill ribbon sewn onto it. He had feared he did not have the strength to become a warrior, and a man. Pride filled him at his accomplishment. How strange that these alien people had been the ones to award him his _zhalj_, the ritual garments of a Scarran warrior.   
  
Saath turned slowly, taking in the alien details of the room. On one side of the window there was a smoothly rounded stone counter with a basin and running water, above which hung a small round mirror of highly polished metal. A small light fixture hung on a chain from the ceiling. Beside the mirror, shelves were carved into the stone wall. A few glass bottles and other small containers lined them. On the other side of the window was a small rectangular wooden table, with two simple chairs.  
  
On the wall to his left, three shelves were carved into the stone itself. They ran half the length of the wall. One shelf widened out into a desk, projecting slightly into the room. A simple chair was placed there, and there was another hanging light unit suspended above it. Saath noted that there were connections there, perhaps for a data terminal. Beside the desk, against the wall, was a low padded bench. To the right of the desk, through an archway, a short passage was lined with more shelves on which were many folded cloths. Saath saw a carved wooden door at the end of the passage, and pushed it open. There was a small room of polished stone. To his surprise, here was a huge water basin large enough to lie down in. There was a short, covered dias he presumed was a waste receptacle. Another polished metal mirror adorned one wall, and under one of the greenish lights, a large leafy plant grew in a ceramic pot. He was curious what it would be like to immerse himself completely in cool water. That luxury seemed very decadent, yet he had to admit it was a very tempting thought.   
  
He came back out into the main room. In the wall opposite the niche was a metal door. He wondered idly if it were locked from the outside. The door was flanked by two of the greenish, ovoid light fixtures that he had seen in the corridor leading to the medical facility. Beside the lights were two tall, carved wooden cabinets.  
  
Saath crossed to the sink. A blue glass pitcher and a glass sat beside it. He moved his hand towards the faucet, and cool water poured out. He filled the pitcher, then the glass, and drank deeply. It was wonderful. He had never had water available whenever he wanted it.. As he drank, he glimpsed his face in the mirror, and sighed. He missed his mask of rags and the concealment it provided. Perhaps in a place where medical procedures did not hurt and water was freely available, he would not need it.  
  
He moved to the window, and took in the view. He was high up on the narrow eastern rampart of the temple ridge. The newly risen sun was a spectacular sight. Pale golden rays threw the mist-shrouded, rocky hills to the east into high relief. To the southeast, the spires of Rab Lupal glinted against the yellow and pink sky. He realised that it was his first sunrise. In a spontaneous gesture of tribute, he spilled some precious water from the window. He looked down to see the droplets glinting in the sunlight as they fell to splash against the sharp black stones far below. Vertigo washed over him, and he stepped back. The vastness of this new world was somehow distressing, though he found it beautiful beyond words.  
  
A chime sounded. Saath turned, and heard a voice from the coms unit beside the door say, "Krelth, it is Ursul. May I enter?"  
  
Saath's eyes grew wide. The Priestess asked his permission? Was this some alien privacy ritual? "Yes," he replied.  
  
The heavy metal door swung open, and Ursul entered. "Good morning!" she said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"  
  
Saath hardly knew how to answer her. To be wished good morning, or to be asked how he felt were not questions he was used to answering. "Rested," he said hesitantly, then, when Ursul still looked expectant, "Hungry."  
  
"Good, Krelth. I have had breakfast brought to you." She opened the metal door and a young Kharinite man bearing a tray entered. When he saw Saath, he started, slightly rattling the ceramic plates. He reddened, and hurried to the table.   
  
"This is Brol, Krelth," the Priestess said. "Brol, this is Krelth."  
  
The Kharinite set down the tray, and turned to Saath with a smile. Covering his shock at the boy's appearance, he spoke in a friendly voice. "I am pleased to meet you," he said.   
  
Saath saw Brol's energy signature flare red. "You are not," he dispassionately replied.   
Brol blushed. He stood for a moment, with his eyes downcast. Then he looked up at Ursul, an apologetic expression on his face. "Excuse me," he said, with a nervous little bow, hurried from the room.  
  
"You certainly have a genteel way about you," Ursul said. Her voice was calm, but Saath saw her energy signature had changed slightly. Was she angry? Disappointed?  
He had not known her long enough to tell.  
  
"Have I misspoken?" he asked.   
  
Ursul hesitated. "No, Krelth. When different cultures meet, often it is most difficult to communicate."  
  
Saath nodded, and stood waiting for Ursul to tell him to eat.   
  
A subtle expression crossed the Priestess' face. "Would you like to eat now?" she asked. With a smile, she gestured at the table.  
  
Again Saath saw her bright energy signature flare at the centre of her ribcage. He needed to know what that meant, since it clearly was an emotion she often experienced.  
  
"Yes," he said. Saath could not understand why she asked his permission. Was he not in her power?  
  
Saath sat down at the table, and lifted the cover off the main dish. On it were many alien plants, most were hot. Complex and unfamiliar scents rose from the food. He had read about natural food, but all his life had eaten a processed, tasteless suppliment. It had nourished him, but it had never smelled good like this. Saath suddenly wondered if the plants were safe for him to eat.  
  
"I have never consumed these foods before," Saath said. "My body may react badly to them."  
  
"The scans the Doctor ran on you last night let us know your dietary needs. I assure you, this food is healthy for you." Ursul said.   
  
Saath looked down at the plate full of alien substances. Hunger gnawed at him. The smells seemed to stimulate his appetite to a painful degree. He reached down and took a long yellowish pod, limp and warm from being cooked. With a glance at Ursul, he raised it to his mouth, and gingerly, as if it might bite him, tasted it. A wonderful sensation filled his mouth.   
  
"It is..." he began. He hesitated, closing his eyes as he chewed the plant. Never in all his life had he experienced such pleasure from eating food. A whole new world of sensation was revealed to him. "It is amazing," he managed to say.  
  
Ursul smiled, but her eyes were sad. "Enjoy your meal, Saath. I will leave you now, but shall return in an arn. I would like to introduce you to a few people today, and later you must visit the Doctor again."  
  
Saath seemed not to be listening to her. His eyes closed, he was slowly savouring another, bigger bite of the tasty yellow plant.   
  
Ursul silently left the boy to his breakfast in the sunny room.  
  


* * *

**

  
**To be continued...  
  
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